Flag-meeting cancelled over LoC firing

Pakistan has again fired along the international border in Jammu district targeting a dozen forward posts of the Border Security Force and injuring a villager. Toughening its stand, India has decided not to hold any flag meeting and respond in a tough manner.

Pakistan has again fired along the international border in Jammu district targeting a dozen forward posts of the Border Security Force and injuring a villager. Toughening its stand, India has decided not to hold any flag meeting and respond in a tough manner.

BSF officials also believe the firing was also aimed at scuttling the proposed foreign secretary level talks, which eventually had been called off by the India. The BSF public relations officer said Pakistan fired on Sunday night in Arnia and RS Pura sector and that Attar Singh, resident of Treva village, was injured in the mortar shelling. “We retaliated in a calibrated manner,” said inspector general BSF(Jammu Frontiers) Rakesh Kumar Sharma.

Pakistan has been continuously firing along this sector through out this month and has suffered losses, as per the Pakistan media, in the retaliatory fire by the India. “We will now not send a request for flag-meeting to diffuse the tension. Now they will have it from us. The Pakistan has in-fact totally undermined the seriousness of such flag-meeting as it repeatedly denied having fired,” said a senior BSF official.

Sources said the decision to this regard was taken after Pakistan rangers failed to respond to repeated calls at the sector-commander level to hold meetings.

“The intensity has increased since July 16 after India responded heavily. Despite our repeated requests to stop it and not target civilian population, they continued to do so. It seems it was a planned strategy to scuttle the talks,” said the official.